BitDefender Total Security 2010 Review

In the past, BitDefender has suffered from something of an identity crisis: in the beginning, its highly customizable settings made it a sleeper hit among techies. Then, in an effort to court more mainstream users, it simplified its user interface, angering some of its early adopters. When it tried to make amends, its UI suddenly seemed complicated again (see our review of BitDefender Total Security 2009). With BitDefender Total Security 2010, however, the company aims to please everyone: users can specify, essentially, how tech-savvy they are, and the UI will adjust itself accordingly. The feature set is designed to be all-encompassing, too: in addition to antivirus and malware protection, BitDefender includes identity theft protection, parental controls, tune-up utilities, and 2GB of online storage. While the suite remains king when it comes to manual features, the interface could still use some streamlining—and a slight price drop wouldn’t hurt, either.

Installation and Setup
At the beginning of our installation, Total Security 2010 searched the computer for existing security software (we didn’t have any, but if we did it would have suggested we remove it, and would have provided a simple interface from which to do so). Installing the large 600MB program on our Toshiba Tecra M10 took 2 minutes, but before the installation process began, our (sluggish) computer took 10 minutes to install Microsoft .NET Framework Version 1.1.

After all this was done (12 minutes in total), we had to restart the computer, something Symantec and Trend Micro’s offerings did not require us to do. Once our system had rebooted, a screen prompted us to choose what kind of network the computer was connected to (either home/office, or a public/university network). During this time, we were also asked to enter a license key. Meanwhile, we saw a pop-up in our system tray (a firewall alert) when checked our Gmail account in Internet Explorer.

User Interface
When you run BitDefender Total Security 2010 for the first time, you’ll be asked to choose a user profile, defining how tech-savvy you are and how many custom settings should be readily accessible from the main screen. Profiles include Typical, a default UI for novice and intermediate users; Parent, which also highlights parental controls; Gamer, which includes more advanced options and also minimizes the performance impact while playing a game; and Custom, for advanced users who thrive on tweaking their applications’ settings. You can change your profile at any time by clicking the Settings link at the top of the page.

As you continue through the setup wizard, you’ll not only pick a profile type, but specify if you’re using a notebook (so that the program can automatically enable laptop mode, which defers unnecessary activity until the computer is plugged in). You’ll also be given the option of setting a time for a daily scan, as well as running one when the wizard completes.

BitDefender also asks you to choose one of three interfaces: novice, intermediate, or expert. This seems redundant, since the whole point of having user profiles (gamers, parents, typical and custom users) is that each type of user would prefer a different level of simplicity. Although the tabbed interface is pretty self-explanatory, it’s not as slick or easy to use as Symantec Norton 360’s—but then again, Norton 360 has frustratingly few advanced settings, so at least BitDefender offers more variety.

One last note about the UI: there’s a lot of popups. We mean that in two ways: one, it’s not a self-contained interface. When you open something from the main screen (say, a tuneup utility) it will open in a separate window. You could easily end up with three or four open windows in your taskbar without even trying. But BitDefender also spat out popups from our system tray. One was the firewall alert we got just after setting up the program, and we got another when we plugged in a USB drive. Fortunately, you can check a box (in the popup, of course) to halt the deliver of popups in similar situations.
Features
In addition to typical virus and malware protection functions, Total Security 2010 offers IM encryption, a firewall, and home network protection. Meanwhile, its File Vault stores, encrypts, and password-protects whatever information you like—a standard feature in security suites nowadays. The vault has a Windows Explorer interface, both when you add and review files, and users can create and name multiple vaults. Setting one up could be easier, though; you have to specify the drive letter for the vault, as well as its size in megabytes.

Parental Controls
BitDefender Total Security 2010’s parental controls, which are particularly prominent in the Parent user profile but available to all users, allow parents to monitor the Web sites their children visit and receive activity reports via e-mail. There are three age settings: adult, child, and teenager, but these categories don’t stop you from customizing every detail, such as the times individual users are allowed to access certain applications and the Internet, and which Web sites they can and can’t visit.

For the most part, the parental controls are easy to navigate. A tabbed interface distinguishes between, say, applications and blocked keywords. It doesn’t change between the novice and intermediate interfaces; novices will be greeted by a simpler screen, but they’ll ultimately have to click through to the same tabbed settings interface as intermediate users if they want to enable and customize the various parental control features (these features, such as keyword blocking, must be turned on manually). The only gripe we have about the parental controls interface is that we think some users might be confused by the fact that you have to enter an outgoing mail server when setting up activity alerts.

Like other security suites, BitDefender also allows parents to block certain applications (e.g., IM and video games) at certain times of the day (say, between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m., when kids should be doing homework). The program is also unique in that parents can even go so far as to block keywords (in e-mail, IM, and search engines), and certain instant messaging users. Parents can also block certain kinds of Web sites altogether, such as gambling, hate sites, online dating, online payment, pornography, and social networking. Additionally, parents can block any individual sites they deem questionable.

Performance
According to a rep from BitDefender, a security program’s effectiveness and thoroughness should take priority over its speed. In other words, it doesn’t claim to run the fastest virus scans or have the most minimal performance impact. That said, Total Security 2010 didn’t slow down our computer’s performance much. Before we installed the program, our Tecra M10 took 1, 4, 1, and 2 seconds to open Google Picasa, Internet Explorer, iTunes, and Microsoft Word, respectively. While running a virus scan, this time rose slightly to 5, 4, 3, and 5 seconds. That’s one of the lowest performance impacts we’ve seen with a security suite; while Trend Micro Internet Security Pro 3.0 also caused minimal impact, other suites by McAfee and ZoneAlarm sometimes tripled the application open times.

Its worth noting that BitDefender’s scanning technology, called Performance Optimization, is designed to skip files known to be safe, a surprising shortcut for a company that insists security is more important than speed. While this makes for a more efficient scanning process, we’d be dubious of letting a security program give our files the benefit of the doubt. For instance, what if a file becomes infected? Locally stored files can become unsafe in the same way Web sites can be attacked and become malicious, even without the host’s knowledge, so we’d prefer that our security program take the comprehensive route—even if it’s not the fastest.

After installing the software and running the first scan, the boot time on our Tecra M10 rose by 12 seconds. That’s slightly better than average: Symantec Norton 360 and Trend Micro Internet Security Pro 3.0 slowed the boot time by 15 and 17 seconds, respectively, but McAfee shaved 20 seconds off the boot time.

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